Updated: May 5, 2008

   Ypsilanti -- Portage Northern and Bloomfield Hills Andover continued their forensics dominance as both repeated as champions at the Michigan Interscholastic Forensic Association Individual Events Championships on May 3 held atEastern Michigan University.

   Portage Northern, under the guidance of Laurel Scheidt, won the Class A championship for the seventh straight year. Andover won the Class B title for the 15th time in the past 16 years, the past three under the guidance of Danielle Harsh. In Class C/D, Ann Arbor Greenhills ended the three-year reign of Grand Rapids City to earn the championship. Greenhills is coached by Barb Ebeling.

   Forensics is competitive public speaking and oral interpretation of literature. Twelve diverse events are available for student competition, six in public address and six in oral interpretation. Public address categories are: sales, broadcasting, informative, oratory, impromptu, and extemporaneous speaking. Interpretation events include: drama, prose, poetry, and storytelling. Interpretation events also include duo interpretation for two competitors, and multiple interpretation for a group of three to eight students. All 12 events are open to all ninth through 12th graders, and one public address event and one interpretation event each year are just for ninth and 10th graders. Students competing at the state competition had to qualify at district and regional competition.

   Northern dominated the Class A competition earning 1,023 sweeps points. Birmingham Groves was second for the second straight year, scoring 706 points. Birmingham Seaholm was third with 695. Bloomfield Hills Andover scored 960 sweeps points to finish ahead of perennial runner-up Dearborn Divine Child's 847. Birch Run was third with 343 points. Ann Arbor Greenhills scored 517 sweeps points to win Class C/D over Grand Rapids City's 279 and Lake City's 174 points.

   Portage Northern has been Class A champion every year since 2002 and also won titles in 1981, 1985, and 1989. Andover has been Class B champion since 2005.

   In Class A individual events, Portage Northern's "Urinetown" (featuring Kaitie Badalamenti, Katie Barron, Michael Giguere, Kasey McSoley, Megan Miles,Christian Schreiber, AJ Sharief, and Chris Wessell) won the prestigious Multiple category with Walled Lake Western's "Charlie Brown" finishing second and Birmingham Groves teams taking third and fourth.

   Northern won six additional individual championships, with Nick Mueller winning Prose, Evan Adams taking Storytelling 9/10, Max Wardlaw victorious in Dramatic Interpretation, the team of Nehemiah Blazek and Meaghan Harris winning Duo with thier performance of "Rabbit Hole," Aakash Gupta taking Extemporaneous, and Brennan Mange winning Impromtu 9/10.

   "The Portage Northern forensic team had an amazing season," said Scheidt. "This group of students is extremely talented, focused, and had outstanding determination. They were rewarded with success at this level of competition and we are so proud to continue this strong tradition in our school community."

   In Class B/C/D individual events, Andover continued their command of the Multiple category, with their teams finishing first and second. "Beauty and the Beast" earned top honors and "A Series of Unfortunate Events" was runner-up. A team from International Academy was third.

   Divine Child won six individual championships. Bernadette Bacero won Extemporaneous, Michael Munoz won Impromtu, Maggie Humenik was tops in Informative, Daniel Drobot won Prose, and Megan Tar won Sales.

   Greenhills took three individual titles. Courtney Marmon won Broadcasting, Jennifer Herstein earned the title in Impromptu 9/10, and Pavel Borisov won Storytelling.

In addition to winning Multiple, Andover won two individual titles with Andrew Frank winning Dramatic Interpretation and Corinne Wee earning top honors in Oratory.

  Roeper's team of Hefferon and Skararasy won Duo and Bangor John Glenn's Jarod Grimmer was victorious in Storytelling 9/10.

> Complete Class A individual results (preliminary rounds)

> Complete Class A individual results (elimination rounds)

> Complete Class B/C/D individual results (preliminary rounds)

> Complete Class B/C/D individual results (elimination rounds)

2008 MIFA Individual Events Championships

Class A

1. Portage Northern, 1,023

2. Birmingham Groves, 706

3. Birmingham Seaholm, 695

4. Grand Rapids Christian, 502

5. Portage Central, 379

6. Holland, 312

7. Lake Orion, 200

8. Sterling Heights Henry Ford II, 163

9. Troy Athens, 149

10. Dexter, 146

Class B

1. Bloomfield Hills Andover, 960

2. Dearborn Divine Child, 847

3. Birch Run, 343

4. Bloomfield Hills International Academy, 294

5. Bangor John Glenn, 249

6. Menominee, 227

7. Midland Bullock Creek, 178

8. Cadillac, 177

9. Flint Powers Catholic, 150

10. Alma, 132

Class C/D

1. Ann Arbor Greenhills, 517

2. Grand Rapids City, 279

3. Lake City, 174

4. Ishperming Westwood, 173

5. Mason County Central, 168

6. Charlevoix, 123

7. Calumet, 80

8. Birmingham Roeper, 72

9. Crystal Falls Forest Park, 70

10. Munising, 39

MIFA Yearly Champions

Class A

2008 Portage Northern (Laurel Scheidt)**

2007 Portage Northern (Laurel Scheidt)

2006 Portage Northern (Laurel Scheidt)

2005 Portage Northern (Laurel Scheidt)

2004 Portage Northern (Laurel Scheidt)

2003 Portage Northern (Laurel Scheidt)

2002 Portage Northern (Laurel Scheidt)

Class B

2008 Bloomfield Hills Andover (Danielle Harsh)

2007 Bloomfield Hills Andover (Danielle Harsh)

2006 Bloomfield HillsAndover (Danielle Harsh)

2005 Bloomfield Hills Andover (Patricia Clees)

2004 Detroit HS for the Performing Arts (Marsha Sakwa)

2003 Bloomfield Hills Andover (Patricia Clees)*

2002 Bloomfield Hills Andover (Patricia Clees)

Class C/D

2008 Ann Arbor Greenhills (Barb Ebeling)

2007 Grand Rapids City (Joe Anne Peterson)

2006 Grand Rapids City (Joe Anne Peterson, Bill Harris)

2005 Grand Rapids City (Joe Anne Peterson, Bill Harris)

2004 Results not available

2003 Cass City (Chad Daniels)

2002 Ann Arbor Greenhills (Barb Ebeling/Janet Repp)

* State record 11th straight championship

** Seventh consecutive championship